The Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged on Thursday the news of the arrest of two Chinese nationals in Ukraine on charges of espionage for allegedly attempting to steal missile designs, offering few details and claiming Beijing was still “verifying the information.”
The arrests, revealed by Kyiv this week, form the latest point of contention between China and Ukraine, which previously enjoyed a close relationship before the full-scale Russian invasion of the latter country began in 2022. Ukraine is a member of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — a program in which China offers predatory loans to poor countries intended to be used to pay for overpriced infrastructure contracts — and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly invited Chinese businesses to invest in his country.
Zelensky’s relationship with China has soured as it has become one of Russia’s top clients for oil and other fossil fuels while failing to take any measures supporting Ukraine during the war. The Ukrainian president indicated in April that China’s support for Russia had escalated from the economic to the military, publishing videos he claimed were proof that Chinese nationals were fighting against his troops and in support of the Russian armed forces.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry typically aggressively rejects accusations of espionage or illicit intelligence activity. In the case of the Chinese nationals arrested in Ukraine, however, spokeswoman Mao Ning stated only that it was too early for her to offer any concrete response. Mao also failed to confirm that Chinese nationals were involved in the situation.
“China is verifying the information. If any Chinese citizens are involved, we will safeguard their lawful rights and interests in accordance with law,” Mao said.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) revealed the arrests this week, identifying those arrested as a 24-year-old Chinese former student and his father. The son lived in Ukraine, while the father visited frequently and allegedly had ties to Chinese security agencies. Ukraine’s office of the prosecutor general stated that the men were caught possessing and attempting to transfer stolen documents showing the development of the Neptune cruise missile, a Ukrainian weapon developed and used during the ongoing Russian invasion.
The men are reportedly facing up to 15 years in prison if found guilty.
Kyiv has increasingly condemned China for its close relationship to Russia – and accused it of participating in the invasion to benefit Moscow. In May, Ukrainian officials accused Beijing of providing Russia with chemical and tech components used to manufacture weapons and war gear.
“Information has emerged, suggesting that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components specifically to defense manufacturing industries,” Foreign Intelligence Service head Oleh Ivashchenko said in an interview with the Ukrainian state outlet Ukrinform at the time. “We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories.”
A month prior, Zelensky himself published images on social media he described as proof that Chinese fighters were engaged in active hostilities against Ukraine.
Наші військові взяли в полон двох громадян Китаю, які воювали в складі російської армії. Це відбулося на території України – на Донеччині. Є документи цих полонених, банківські картки, особисті дані.Маємо інформацію про те, що таких громадян Китаю в підрозділах окупанта значно більше, ніж двоє. Зараз зʼясовуємо всі факти. Працюють розвідка, СБУ, відповідні підрозділи Збройних Сил.Я доручив міністру закордонних справ України негайно звʼязатися з Пекіном і зʼясувати, як Китай збирається на це реагувати.Залучення Росією ще й прямо чи опосередковано Китаю в цю війну у Європі – це чіткий сигнал, що Путін збирається робити що завгодно, окрім завершення війни. Він шукає, як воювати далі. На це точно потрібна реакція. Реакція Сполучених Штатів, Європи та всіх у світі, хто хоче, щоб був мир.Полонені громадяни Китаю перебувають у Службі безпеки України.Тривають відповідні слідчі та оперативні дії.____Our military has captured two Chinese citizens who were fighting as part of the Russian army. This happened on Ukrainian territory—in the Donetsk region. Identification documents, bank cards, and personal data were found in their possession.We have information suggesting that there are many more Chinese citizens in the occupier’s units than just these two. We are currently verifying all the facts—intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine, and the relevant units of the Armed Forces are working on it.I have instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to immediately contact Beijing and clarify how China intends to respond to this.Russia’s involvement of China, along with other countries, whether directly or indirectly, in this war in Europe is a clear signal that Putin intends to do anything but end the war. He is looking for ways to continue fighting. This definitely requires a response. A response from the United States, Europe, and all those around the world who want peace.The captured Chinese citizens are now in the custody of the Security Service of Ukraine. Relevant investigative and operational actions are ongoing.
Posted by Володимир Зеленський on Tuesday, April 8, 2025
The men, Zelensky claimed, “had documents, their passports, even credit cards. They are Chinese citizens.”
The information the president shared did not clarify if the men were mercenaries who chose to travel to the war theater on their own or People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers deployed by Beijing. He instead insisted that it was “important” and “urgent” that Chinese citizens were present in the conflict.
“The Chinese are fighting on the territory of Ukraine. And I think this is an important point that we need to discuss with our partners,” Zelensky wrote at the time. “I think it is urgent. I understand that we are a strong country, but we cannot fight many countries at the same time, which all need something on our land.”
In addition to the Chinese mercenaries, the government of communist North Korea has dispatched thousands of troops to Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine is currently attacking, to support the Russian government. Pyongyang signed a mutual defense agreement with Russia in June 2024. Also present on the war front are tens of thousands of Cubans, according to the Ukrainian government, many of whom are believed to have been scammed into coming to eastern Europe with fake proposals for construction and other working class jobs. The Cuban communist regime, a close ally of Russia’s, has not openly admitted to sending any troops to Russia, but Russian social media sites have been flooded with pro-Moscow propaganda posted by Cuban nationals apparently fighting on the front lines against Ukraine.
Prior to the full-scale Russian invasion, Zelensky was openly friendly to the interests of the Chinese regime. The president invited China to turn Ukraine into its “bridge to Europe” in 2021 and repeatedly offered in the early days of the war for “Chinese businesses” to help rebuild what Russia had bombed.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post in 2022, Zelensky said he wanted to “talk directly” to genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and suggested that Beijing could deter Russia from further aggression.
“It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy… So [it] can politically, economically influence Russia. And China is [also a] permanent member of the U.N. Security Council,” Zelensky posited. “This is a war on our territory, they came to invade. China, as a big and powerful country, could come down and sort of put the Russian Federation [in] a certain place.”
China’s ultimate contribution to the conflict was to publish a white paper called, “Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” which officials described as a roadmap to peace, but which offered no concrete steps towards resolving the conflict. The white paper suggested, without elaborating, that Russia and Ukraine should “calm down as soon as possible” and “stay rational and exercise restraint.”
Both Russia and Ukraine largely ignored the Chinese “peace plan.”
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